Friday, 6 February 2009

Jacques The Lad

What have the Belgians ever done for us? Only invented pop music as we know it, that's what.

You can read my piece about the great Jacques Brel (who I've decided to henceforth dub "The Emperor of Death Pop" - let's see if it catches on) in today's Guardian. It features interviews with Marc Almond, Zach Condon, Neil Hannon, Gavin Friday and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake - but not Joan Wasser. Sorry Joan!

About Me

Regular contributor to the Guardian, The Word, Uncut,New Statesman, the Herald and theartsdesk. My work has also appeared in the Observer, the Telegraph, Esquire, Mojo, Time Out, Rolling Stone, HMV Choice, Oxford American, the Sunday Business Post and Record Collector. Occasionally I’m allowed to break cover on Radio 2, Radio 4 and Radio Scotland.

Author of five books: Complicated Shadows: The Life & Music of Elvis Costello (Canongate, 2004); Willie Nelson: The Outlaw (Virgin, 2006); I Shot a Man in Reno (Continuum, 2008); and Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush (Omnibus, 2010). I’ve just published The Resurrection of Johnny Cash (Jawbone, 2011).

I’ve sat on a sofa in the control room of Abbey Road's Studio 2 and watched Paul McCartney remove his socks. Keith Richards phoned me at 4 a.m. to ask, 'Whatya doing up so late, old boy?'. I've been offered a potentially fatal Camberwell Carrot by Willie Nelson. I've made Bob Geldof cry into his meat loaf, and Elvis Costello once threw a peach stone in my general direction. He's even less friendly these days.